x...phobia

Well, I actually have good news for all of you!  I have a new, 100% telecommuting job.

Yup, I know, it's a beast I thought didn't exist in real life, but it turns out that there are a couple of dream jobs out there.  My Atychiphobia wouldn't let me settle for anything else (that would be the fear of failure).

What makes me so happy about the telecommuting job is mostly a pandering to several self-diagnosed conditions:

Mysophobia- yup, the fear of GERMS.  When working in an office, I found it difficult to touch even chairs in the conference rooms, much less handshakes and white board markers without running to the bathroom afterwards to wash my hands.  I could have taken stock in instant hand sanitizer.

Ochlophobia- the fear of crowds.  This is different from Agoraphobia, which is the fear of open plans (agora being plains and whatnot).  Agoraphobia is pretty much the opposite from Claustrophobia, if you want to think about it that way, while Ocholophobia is more of a different flavor of claustrophobia.  I don't like crowds.  Traffic makes me crazy.  These are symptoms of this condition.  I used to go into work at 4:30 in the morning just to avoid the traffic on the roads.  I'm serious about not wanting to be around crowds.  Part of it is the invasion of my space, but then when it comes to crowded places like the supermarket on a Saturday, I actually have a panic attack - so many people getting so close to me...their germs!


Yeah, ok, it might feed back to the mysophobia, but when you've been in hospitals as often as I have, you kind of look for reasons to AVOID getting sick.

I honestly had so much fun writing this because of this Phobia List that I found.  I doubt some of them are genuine, but then again, what else do psychiatrists do that conventions?

My favorites include:
Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Omphalophobia- Fear of belly buttons.
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat.

and
Onomatophobia- Fear of hearing a certain word or of names, which makes me think of Monty Python's Holy Grail and the Knights Who Say "Ni".

arGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!